


the echo as wide as the equator

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band), The 100 (TV)
Genre: Bottom Louis, Fluff and Angst, Forest AU, M/M, The 100 - Freeform, Top Harry, Work In Progress, a good ass show, grounder harry, i don't know what to add?, lots of zouis but it's mainly fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-22 17:40:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6088600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ninety years after a nuclear war wiped out what assumed to be all life on Earth, the remaining survivors took to the only safe place they'd known of at that time; space.</p><p>Now known as 'The Ark': a space station orbiting around Earth, the newly-accounted chancellor Zayn Malik says they only have four months left of oxygen, and suggests they send himself and exactly one hundred juvenile prisoners the age of 16 and over down to Earth to examine whether the large planet is still inhabitable after so much death and scrutiny graced its land so long ago.</p><p>But, as Louis finds out the hard way: they're not alone.</p><p>(Or: a 'The 100' au where Louis is an innocent Octavia accompanied by Niall/bad-boy Bellamy, Gemma, a not-so-mechanic Raven, and Zayn Malik; the very hot yet young Marcus Kane.)</p><p> </p><p>(Let's not begin to mention Harry Styles, the no-good Lincoln, that's in the wrong place at exactly the right time.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. i dig 'til my shovel tells a secret

The lights beamed down on Louis' temples, causing him to sweat profusely. He never really like the lights of The Ark; they were always too bright and whenever you looked directly at them it was like staring at the sun. Nonetheless, they provided little warmth during the somewhat cold nights, and it wasn't like those ugly yellow-coloured lights in Station 2.

The pair (Louis and his sister, Félicité), reside in Station 7. It was where some of the work was done such as engineering and medical. The Ark was built with thirteen stations in total. Not one soul knows the whole ordeal about Station 13 though (apparently it broke off somehow and is missing, yet to be found), and only important people of the hierarchy have permission to visit stations over the number of eight. Louis tries not to question it, but he's only seventeen, his sister being a few years older, and his brain is curious about a lot of things.

"Morning Fiz," Louis smiled warmly at his sister whom had just entered his bedroom. She was his only sibling, with light cinnamon-coloured hair and ocean eyes a little darker than his own. 

"Morning, Lou." she reciprocated the smile, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. As always; Louis noticed immediately.

"What's wrong?" 

Félicité sighed, shaking her head faintly before complying. "There's something going on in the South Wing... when I- went to get breakfast, I saw around five people rush past the dining hall. It was super weird because normally everyone is in the dining hall for breakfast. They could've just been doctors, though."

"Except me. I've never even _seen_ the dining room." her brother mumbles sadly, sitting down on his worn-out bed and picking at his toast.

"Lou-" she begins to protest.

"I know, I know," Louis waves her away with a flick of his hand, "mum always said I had to clean the house before going to breakfast..." scoffing, he sighs sadly and rips off a bit of the dry toast before popping it in his mouth, "but whenever I finished and walked to the dining hall, everyone was always gone." 

"I'm sorry." Félicité hums in pity, rubbing his arm gently. 

Louis doesn't do pity _._

"It's okay."

The two sit in silence for a while, and just as Félicité is about to ask how his day went, they're suddenly interrupted once the sound of the main door to their home busting open alerts them, the known rhythm of heavy boots shuffling in other rooms. "Louis, hide!" Félicité quietly pleads, standing from her old position by his bed and grappling his arm, pushing him to the small rectangular trapdoor. "Get under the floorboard, and don't come out until they're gone, alright?" his sister looks frantic, her identical blue eyes darting around the room as the people got closer. He's only had to hide a few times from guards, but for some reason these people seemed much scarier. "What about you, Fiz?!" Louis cries, holding onto her arm tightly. "I don't want to lose you!"

"Don't worry about me, just go!" 

They reach the bedroom door just as Louis closes the trapdoor above him, heart threatening to spill and melt out of his chest. The mens feet cast omnious shadows over his face the closer they walked towards him, Louis covering his ears once he hears his sisters strangling cries and screams getting more distant.

A few loud thumps later, and there's silence.

Anxiously, Louis waits five more minutes before opening the trapdoor and peeking his eyes out; seeing the threat, along with his sister, were gone.

"Fiz?" Louis whispers, slowly crawling from his hiding place and searching his home, where the people who had barged in left every door open.

He was exiting the main door of his sanctuary in order to locate his sister, looking around before someone yells "gotcha!" right in Louis' ear, snagging him and throwing his now trembling body over his shoulder like a fire-man would. 

"Let me go!" Louis screams, banging on the mans back with his tiny fists, twisting and squirming in hopes to release himself from this strangers firm grip on his thighs. 

"No can do, I'm afraid. We're taking every juvenile sixteen or over and sending them to Earth." the man sounded darkly amused, which deeply irritated the boy. How did  _he_ know Louis was a juvenile?

"Wh- Earth?! No! I don't want to die. Please! I'll do anything!" Louis pleaded. The cerulean-eyed boy was well aware of what Earth was like; his mother and sister, Félicité, would always teach him about how dangerous it was when he was growing up. He heard of these animals called dogs, which were very vicious, and these much larger version of dogs called wolves... or was it bears? 

Twenty minutes later, the man stopped. Louis assumed they reached their destination as the stranger placed him on the ground and began pushing the frightened boy towards a place which made him gasp. 

There were rows and rows of people around his age, younger and older. They were all wearing different coloured bracelets, and as he stepped forward in line, the people around him disappeared once they walked into this large black tunnel. Guards lined the walls with long electric batons, tazing anyone that became reckless or weren't abiding by the rules plastered on the board at the front: 

  * _No communicating._
  * _Stay perfectly in line._
  * _No making eye contact._
  * _No resisting._
  * _No talking back or questioning ones authority._
  * _Once you enter the tunnel, do not make a sound until you are safely in the pod/drop-ship._



Saying he was intimiated would be the understatement of the century.

As he moved up in line, Louis noticed there were various coloured people of different ethnicity and race situated into different lines as him and he frowned. Why is everyone separated?

Walking forward and replacing the persons spot that was just ahead of him, the feather-haired boy also noticed there were four white tables equally spread out within the lot; observing the workers behind the tables place more bracelets on people, scanning them on the back of the neck with a-- bar code scanner? before injecting them with a long needle and pushing them into the 'tunnel of doom' (as Louis begins to call it).

That only reminded him of the whereabouts of his older sister, his blue eyes scanning the room before thankfully locking with hers soon after. She gives a curt nod and mouths something like "you'll be okay" before disappearing.

"Name?" a Chinese woman asked, snapping Louis out of his thoughts.

"Louis Tomlinson." mumbles the boy, staring at the floor.

"Okay Louis," she explained, pronouncing Louis' name like 'Lewis' which irritated him, "first, I'm going to code you. Then the lady on the next table is going to scan you. You'll get your bracelet after that which is based on your blood type, and lastly you will be injected with a tracker; which means we will be able to monitor your health and location. Understand?

"Yes, m'am."

She didn't say anything before printing out his identification code and plastering it on the back of Louis' neck like those cheap fake tattoos that last a week. Slowly peeling it off, she nodded once there were no missing pieces stuck on the plastic wrapping. "Don't touch it until you land on Earth. Next!" Louis was roughly pushed by a guard he didn't even know was standing nearby, once again waiting in line and taking in his surroundings for one last time. He grew up here, and he was leaving with a bar code and a tracker? The adolescent thought he'd live a long happy life here with a husband and maybe a few children, and reside in the East Wing where most parents and families do. But sadly, he grew up in the West Wing; where children have nowhere to go after their parent or guardian dies; either by being floated or of old age. It was like a massive orphanage.

Félicité never told him why their mother got floated when he was four, and he started suspecting at age nine when he once asked a few people if their siblings were attending the few parties that went on or communal mandatory Christmas dinners once every year. They always gave him a weird/angry look before walking off.

That's why Louis grew up being accustomed to having no friends except Félicité, who was always there for him when he sobbed into her chest. _"Why does no one like me?"_ He would ask. _"We're just different, Lou. Don't sweat it. We're unique."_ She would sigh, rubbing her younger brothers' back. No one except her and their mother knew why Louis was a secret to The Ark until a certain guard told the authorities about a random boy walking the dark halls after curfew. 

Now, after all his injections, Louis is sat on an airplane-like seat (which is surprisingly comfortable), playing with his black bracelet while hearing a boy in the row in front of him talking his head off about how excited he is. Louis also notices most people in his own row have green, blue and yellow bracelets except one girl sitting next to him with brunette hair. She also has a black.

Oh well, he's content on being seated at the very end of his row where no one can talk to or acknowledge him.

After observing his bracelet for far too long, he raises a hand for the chancellor, it taking a while for Zayn to notice as he's dealing with someone sobbing. The man does lock eyes with Louis eventually; and walks over to him with a small frown etched onto his face. "What do you need, Lou?"

"Does this look black to you? And why don't many others have it?"

Zayn sighs pointedly at his stupid question (of course it's fucking black), nevertheless taking an electronic pad from his front pocket and analysing the code on the back of Louis' neck with the pen (that also acts as a scanner), and awaiting the results patiently. 

After a few minutes, his eyebrows shoot up before knitting them into a frown as he reads what ever showed up on the screen. "Hm."

"What? What is it?" Louis questions, peering his head over the device to peek before being gently slapped away by the mans muscular hands. "Black means you have a rare genetic mutation. Not sure what it means because you don't  _look_ that special... but--"

_Just stab Louis in the heart, why don't you Zayn?_

"I don't exactly know. You probably have more chance at surviving on Earth once we land." The chancellor hums before adding: "Which reminds me, we're due for take-off in roughly..." he turns his head to look at the digital clock, and to where small children still on The Ark are trying to peek through the heavily tinted glass. "Twenty minutes. Get comfortable, Louis. It's going to be a long ride. 'Long' meaning a week at most. By the way, I was kidding about you not looking that special. You _are_ a special boy, Louis. At least to me."

Louis huffs before slouching in his seat and shooting invisible daggers at the back of Zayns retreating figure, his gaze softening a little once he hears Zayns comment.

"Glaring isn't gonna do anything, mate." The stranger from the row in front chuckles, cornflower hair framing his light indigo eyes. Louis just now realises he's got a distinctly different accent than everyone else, and hums in acknowledgement. "I'm Niall. I love popcorn, cheese and FIFA. What about you?"

It takes him a span of roughly five minutes to respond, but once Louis finally has an answer, Zayns voice filters through the small speakers spread around the pod.

"Fifteen minutes until take off. Please keep your hands and feet inside the seat at all times and do not under any circumstances remove your seat belt. Thank you." his deep voice on the intercom cuts off Louis' train of thought. Oh well, this Niall person probably has other friends to make.

"Well? C'mon! What do you like?" The blonde presses, grinning from ear to ear. Guess not.

"I like painting... I can paint astronomy; like planets and stuff. My favourite is Venus. It has a lot of colours." Louis smiles to himself, looking down at his feet while curling his toes inside the heavy leather belt-buckled boots. They remind him of what happened with Félicité and he frowns.

Niall huffs, turning so his chest is resting against the seat and placing his head against his now crossed arms while playing with a stray piece of fraying. "I wish I could paint, my brother always told me painting was irrelevant."

Louis positively beams as soon as he hears the word brother, snapping his head up from his lap so fast he almost gives himself whiplash. "You have a brother?"

"Yeah, name's Greg." Niall scoffs, "that's why we're all here. For our crimes, right?"

It sounded like a rhetorical question, but Louis is too curious for his own good. "I haven't done anything wrong, though? I don't understand." 

Niall laughs good-naturedly, turning around while poking his tongue at Zayn who scowls. "Horan, face forward in your seat. Five minutes until take-off."

Louis' bright-eyed acquaintance quickly back-tracks and explains why having two children is against the law on The Ark, which leaves the chestnut-haired teenager sitting in silence and thinking over his whole life for a few minutes. 

"Do you... think we'll be okay on Earth?" Louis questions after a while, fiddling with the hem of the pure black padded leather jacket he was forced to wear; along with everyone else. 

"I'm kinda excited, but I know there's lots of scary things out there." Niall sits up again on the seat, turning his attention to someone else.

"Hey, Gemma?" he begins poking a girl next to Louis that looks older than the two of them, with wavy flaxen blonde and russet-pigmented hair that grows just past her breasts. He also notices she's wearing the same black coloured bracelet as his. "No, Niall. I don't want to date you." The girl scoffs, pointedly ignoring him and putting a pair of old earphones in.

"Gem. Can we switch? The guy next to you is a projectile vomiter." He whispers the last part as if Louis wasn't right there and not-so-subtly nods his head at him while keeping eye contact with her.

"No," she finalises, "switch places with Randy." 

"Fine. You're such a party-pooper." with a roll of his eyes, Niall unlocks his seat belt and kicks Randy, a boy two seats away from Louis with copper red hair and light green eyes, out of his seat so that the brunette is now in the middle of the two.

"I'm gonna regret this, aren't I?"

"Yep." The blonde grins as she rolls her eyes, turning to Louis. "Please save me from him."

Louis can only giggle as the two begin fighting over his attention, resulting in Zayn coming over and smacking the back of their heads lightly. Zayn and Louis had a complex friendship, the two mainly bantering and Louis' occasional playful flirting. Ever since Louis was around thirteen and Zayn was just a guard, he'd inexplicably taken an instant liking to the young boy, showing him the ways of The Ark and how it worked; until his ex-friend Steven caught them out one night and threatened to have Zayns rank stripped of him unless he turned Louis in to the chancellor himself. Ever since that day he's never been able to completely forgive himself for betraying Louis, one of the only friends he had on The Ark.

"Two minutes until take-off. Keep your hands and legs inside your seat and _no_ switching places (Louis assumes Zayn saw Randy and Niall change seats, how Niall got away with it; he'll never know). Do not get out of your designated chair until we land. You will have individual ten minute breaks during the week to use the rest room on the side and people will be giving out breakfast, lunch and dinner packets. Thank you."

Louis turns in his seat to see there's a few guards with batons and guns scattered around the drop-ship. He thought only the chancellor and teenagers were going?

"For protection," Niall whispers as if he read Louis' mind, the lad noticing his new friend was awfully quiet amongst all the chatter and excited/scared screeches every now and then. "Even  _they_  don't know what could be out there. Better to be safe than sorry."

"I guess so." The seventeen year old agrees. "Wow, this is going to be an interesting week, isnt it?" Louis giggles once Zayn announces the drop-ships take off, looking around at everyone. Most people were sleeping, others were playing with what they were allowed to keep when they were forced from their homes. It was a bumpy ride for a little while, a few people panicking and clutching onto their friends' chests with wide eyes. Louis simply stared at the glass window above them, displaying all of the stars and constellations he could make out. Niall gives him a splitting grin and he laughs, following Louis' eyes with his own.

"It sure is."

 

* * *

 

Six days pass in a blur, and they have five hours until they (hopefully) land safely. Louis has became good friends with Gemma and Niall during that time, the trio playing cards most of the way there and whispering about Zayn and the other guards sitting nearby. "I bet that one's had it up the bum!" Niall points to two guards exiting the same bathroom with messy hair and glossy eyes. "Niall..." Louis couldn't help the shit-eating grin from splitting his face, "I think they actually  _did!_ " The three burst into teary laughs, Zayn having to walk up to their row and scold them to be quiet because they were literally the only ones awake.

"Aww, Zany, just simple fun." Louis bats his eyelashes and pouts. If he can get into trouble, his cheekbones can certainly get him out.

"Don't say my name like that." He glares before returning to his seat alongside the other guards in the front.

"Damn, Louis. If I were gay, I'd hit that." Niall nods to Zayn, who's giving instructions on what appeared to be a map.

"Niall, I never want to hear those words come out of your mouth ever again." he deadpans, staring right at him before his blonde friend pulls a funny face, sending Louis into resisting his own smile. 

"You look like an angry duck." Gemma comments haughtily, her own smile threatening to spill. Louis finally stops resisting and huffs. "I hate you guys."

"Cool," Gemma nods, picking at her nails. "What's for dinner?"

"This di-" Niall begins, yet is quickly cut off by someones presence. 

"You may want to sleep because by the time we arrive it should be nearing 1700 hours, and we need to set up camp as soon as possible. We'll need all the help we can get."

"Yes, dad." Louis groans, doing a poor excuse of a salute. Niall simply snickers and Gemma shakes her head, smirking.  

"I hope you know how much I hate you for calling me that. It makes me feel old." Zayn mimics Gemma, shaking his head. "Now go to sleep before I make you."

"Fiiine." Grumbling, Louis curls into a ball with his knees tucked close to his chest, head on the soft padded built-in pillow the seats provide.

"Dude, you seriously not gonna hit that?" Niall whispers, laughing.

"I will stab you."

They both know it's an empty threat.  

And when Louis wakes three hours later, it's to a girl screaming.

"What's going on?" he mumbles, rubbing the sleep from his eyes before opening them. Niall is frozen in shock along with Gemma, staring at something beyond Louis' shoulder.

"...Guys?"

"Louis." Niall mumbles, breaking out of his stare and snapping his eyes to the curious boys' own. "Don't turn around." 

"What? Why?" of course, he does the logical thing and disobeys his blonde friend.

There's a girl screaming at what appeared to be an unconscious body slumped on the floor. "Is he-"

"Yes." Gemma cuts in, causing Louis to turn away from the sight and focus his attention on her. "He got out of his seat without telling a guard, then we hit something and he went flying towards the other side of the room. You could hear every bone break in his body." She sighs, shaking her head sympathetically. "Louis, you need to know that not everything's going to be 'fine and dandy' on Earth, it's changed since the majority of the human race died out, and we know nothing of what's out there. Going back to Earth... it's not our home anymore. We'll face many obstacles down there; and survive as if we've been trained. We're prisoners, Louis, we were sent down here to _die_."

 _That certainly took a dark turn_ , Louis thinks.

He processes this for a few minutes before sighing. "You're right. And- two dead? Where's the other?"

"Died of a seizure in his sleep. I'd suspect many of us are going to die on Earth." She comments nonchalantly, unaware that Louis' heart is almost ready to rip out of his chest from how scared he is.

"I don't want to die." he heaves, shaking his head. "No, no, no-"

Noticing the change in Louis' mood, Gemma stops the frantic movements of Louis' head by holding his face softly between her palms. "Louis, listen to me.  _You will not die_. Not while you're under Niall and I's guidance and protection. Understand?"

"Okay." he mumbles, his head dropping back to the cushion as Gemma retracts her hands and smiles faintly at him.

"Good. Now go back to sleep."

Louis nods, turning around and staring at the clock on the wall before ever-so-slowly drifting into a deep slumber. Turning back to Niall, Gemma sighs. "Two hours until we land, you ready?" She asks her friend anxiously, running her fingertips across the precise stitching of the seat in front of hers.

"Yeah, mate," Niall laughs nervously, "that reminds me: how old is Lou, again?" 

"Seventeen, I think. I know you turned eighteen a few months ago, and I'm twenty so that would make me the oldest." Gemma hums, patting her Irish friend on the shoulder.

"How high does the maximum for age go?" he inquires curiously, eyes following Gemmas line of sight to see Zayn carrying the unfortunates into another room. "Twenty two, I think." Gemma replies before leaning over Louis' unconscious figure, double checking whether Louis is truly asleep and listening closely for any uneven breaths. When there are none and she's convinced the small boy is out like a light, she turns back to Niall. "I think Zayn has a thing for him."

"How so?" Niall mumbles, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion

"I don't know how to explain it, but... he just stares at Louis differently than the rest of us."

"As in... love?"

"Maybe. More fond, I'd say." Gemma whispers the last part as she notices Zayn approaching them, who stops besides Louis' seat with his hands behind his back in an authoritative stance. "Just wanted to make sure you're all seated in and alright, as we land very soon. Several have already had panic attacks." The chancellor glances to Louis sleeping in a ball, the tiny boy sniffing once causing his nose to scrunch. He removes his eyes from the adorable sight before nodding to the two, whom have been watching his actions closely. Zayn coughs once before continuing. "Once we get there and set up camp; as I assume we'll live once we touch down or this would all be a waste, I'll get a few of our crew to join me on a hunt. We only have four guards on this drop-ship, so numbers are important," he begins to glare while gesturing to Louis, "look after him. everyone here will lose their innocence soon enough once they realise what it's really like down there."

"Safe to say I already have, captain." Gemma grins sheepishly at an unamused Zayn. "I think he'll be fine," Niall adds, "I used to work in mechanics, so I know a thing or two about a thing or two. Thanks for the heads up, though." he chuckles smugly with an infamous roll of the eyes before muttering: "amateur."

"Did you just talk back to me?" Zayn hisses, narrowing his eyes at the boy.

"I don't know, did I? What do you think, Gemma?" Niall bites back calmly, clearly amused at Zayns reaction. He was testing the mans temper to see if he would be fit for Louis and his needs.

"Hey, don't bring me into this." the girl in question retracts her head, throwing her hands up in mock surrender.

"You get your attitude from your mother." The chancellor comments with grumble, turning on his heels to leave. Almost instantly, there's a weight on his back and he's being pushed to the floor by someone, forcing Zayn to roll on his back reflexively in order to identify the person who decided they wanted a surprise piggy-back. "Don't talk ill about my mother!"

"Niall!-" Gemma gasps, moving to get out of her seat before being pushed back down by a guard nearby. "Lady, please stay in your seat. Everyone get back!" There's only so many guards who can order the rowdy adolescents to stay in their place and not interfere with the brawl currently taking place.

The Irish boy is banging his fists on Zayns broad chest and pulling at his once perfect quiff that now looks dishevelled, another guard pulling Niall off Zayn as if he weighed nothing. At this point Louis was awake and watching everything go down with startled eyes. The guard that pulled Niall away barks at everyone who's standing to go back to their places before shoving the fuming blonde in his seat, permanently locking the seatbelt.

"Zayn, you alright?" The same guard ask, putting a hand on his back and manoeuvring the chancellor back to his seat. 

"Yeah, I'm alright Mickey. Thanks." Zayn huffs, glaring darkly at Niall who glares just as hard, leaving an extremely confused Louis looking between the two and a disappointed Gemma scoffing before placing her earphones in, not before murmuring something along the lines of: "I want to get off this fucking ship."

"You're telling me." Niall mutters, slumping in his seat and pouting. Gemma simply rolls her eyes (Louis swears she's going to eventually go blind from doing it so much), coughing pointedly at the blonde. " _Anyway,_  since we have a while until we land; you two tell me your stories and why you're even on this pod." 

Humming, Louis, thinking this suggestion through. "What do we get in return?"

"In return, you get my story." his friend stares at him with a pointed look; as if saying _'obviously'._

"Two stories for the price of one? Unfair deal!" Niall all but yells, earning an irritated whack on the bicep by Gemma. "Listen, you potato with eyes. My story's interesting. I can assure you it's worth the hype."

"Fine. Louis first, though." The two gaze at him with mirth, both resting their head in their hands like a ten year old fangirl would. 

"I'll accept that suggestion just because my story is the boringest and we will be able to get through it quicker." he voices, glaring at Niall who voiced Louis should go first.

"Is boringest even a word?" Niall pipes up, laughing at his angry face.

"No, you twat. Now listen and don't interrupt." Grumbling, Louis coughs dramatically before beginning.

"I guess things started becoming strange when I was four... I don't remember much; my mother always telling me to hide in the floorboard underneath her bed during every house inspection. At that point I didn't know that giving birth to two children was illegal and that my mum refused to abort. Félicité, my older sister, told me that mum delivered me in her bed at around 0300 hours when everyone was asleep. She told me what mother said as soon as I was born; that I would go through so much pain and confusion, growing without a parent to guide me. I feel bad for putting everything in my sisters hands, I mean she was only five at the time. Five years old _,_ and already caring for her brother until he was of age to look after himself." Louis mumbles something unintelligent, sighing and placing his leg on the seat to horizontally lay his head, gazing silently at his two listening friends. "My mother was floated a day after I turned seven, Christmas Day. Since that day my sister tended and cared for me more often, the space beneath the floorboards becoming my permanent bedroom because it was too risky if the guards were to randomly come in. I was never allowed to contact anyone, or go into the dining room every night where everyone ate, Fizzy having to steal a few extra pieces and retrieve them to me. It wasn't until I was thirteen that I met Zayn, who was a night guard at the time; I was coming back from borrowing a few paintbrushes and tins from the art room when he spotted me. I remember dropping everything and sprinting away until I quite literally ran into another guard just around the corner. He grabbed my wrist, and that was when Zayn appeared out of nowhere and said I was with him. I had been caught by two guards, and thought I'd be floated by tomorrow. Then the guard did the weirdest thing and instantly released my wrists. I vaguely remember Zayn asking if I was alright, which was... odd; because the majority of the guards were either exceptionally mean, or just plain rude. I told him I would return the paintbrushes and tins straight away, and that I was really sorry. I remember crying my eyes out because I didn't want to be floated; and I think I told him as much because from that moment he was nice to me. He asked me why I had stolen the brushes and paint, and I told him I was doing this massive project. Which I was: I was going to paint all of the planets, and then The Ark. He asked for my name and told me he'd see me again, but the next time I saw him he had changed- he... he turned me in and told someone I was an illegal child. So that's how I got on this pod with Fiz." he finishes, sighing. Louis won't admit it but it felt surprisingly good sharing a part of his life with his closest friends.

"Louis, that's..." Whispers Niall, lost for words and staring softly at the boy while fiddling with his fingers.

"Really sad," Gemma finishes, stroking a hand through his fringe sympathetically, "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"It's okay, I still have Fiz and you guys." Louis laughs- but it came out as more of a whimper. With a shake of his head, he forces a smile in Nialls direction, glancing at the clock. Half an hour until they land. "Well, go on blondie, we haven't got all day!"

With a snort, Niall cracks his knuckles. 

"Well, I always had a brother growing up. His name's Greg, as I told ye' earlier, and he works as a mechanical engineer on the outer layer of The Ark- and before you ask," he pointedly raises an eyebrow to Louis, whose hand slowly lowers from where it was once raised in the air, "yes, he did wear an oxygen suit and actually go out of The Ark. He told me at the age of fifteen that the only reason our mother and father weren't floated was because The Ark needed more engineers, so Greg told me they expected me to learn. It was like black-mail, but luckily Zayn wasn't the chancellor then. Man, did I hate Pike." Louis and Gemma nod in agreement, he wasn't the best chancellor back then. "Anyway, so I eventually became an apprentice in engineering and got an old friend Kyle; I called him 'Wick', to show me the ropes. By the age of eighteen, the age I am now, I can defuse a bomb,  _make_ a bomb, use a shoelace as a screwdriver, hot-wire an escape pod; though I haven't tried that  _yet_ , use wire to hack into the thumb-print scanners, and disable the cameras using a bobby pin and a metal pipe. I could also use that guards electric baton," Niall adds, pointing to an oblivious man nearby, "a needle, and a thread to get these trackers and bracelets out without being detected. I won't now, though. It'd be too obvious. Once we get them off, we'll be free men and women."

"I was honestly expecting a long sappy story, not lists of what you could make. But thank you for that information." Gemma retorts, smirking. 

"Is Greg still- you know?" Nialls blue-eyed friend inquires curiously.

"Alive? Yeah. He's twenty five now, too old to be on the pod and still works as a mechanical engineer for The Ark. He's all well and good... Gemmas turn!" Niall grins, beaming with his almost-clear braces and visibly crooked teeth.

"You're literally an over-energetic puppy." she deadpans, Niall whining out a 'heeey!'.

"Well, let's get this shit over with." Mumbling, Gemma readies herself for this exceptionally long and confusing story about to take place.

"Gemma! No swearing!" Scolds Louis, hitting her on the arm. She laughs, kicking her feet upon the seat in front of hers and glaring when the person taking residence in it turns to frown at her.

"I guess I grew up with a brother? His name was Harry, though he left The Ark when I was eight. Before you ask how he left, I'll tell you later. Anywho; so my mum and brother left, leaving me and my dad. He was alright, a little distant because of what had happened but eventually things turned out okay again. Then, at the age of eleven, I had to sneak out one night and head to the North Wing, where mainly people with massive jobs like surgeons, mechanics, chancellors and guards worked. All that jazz, you know? So, I'm in the surgeons ward because my dad was a medic and needed me to fetch him a polyamide needle for some reason. I get there and I overhear these guards nearby talking about a missing escape pod. The pods were for emergencies only and are located at the very end of The Ark where no one goes. It takes like ten thumb-print scanners and thirteen guards to get there," Gemma comments dryly, "plus, the escape pods haven't been in use for over thirty years ever since a mother brought her kids in a pod to get away from The Ark. They were unaware it was a malfunctioning one that needed desperate repair, so the whole family died instantly because they didn't notice the crack in the window or that the fuel only had one litre left, along with a broken engine. My dad dies of heart-attack a few months later, and I'm sent to the West Wing. From that age and up I noticed everything that goes on in The Ark, every whisper and every peep. I knew what was happening between guards and who was being floated when. But that wasn't my initial intention. I wanted to know whether Harry and my mother somehow got to an escape pod and left, and I hope to the stars above they're still alive, and why they never bothered to take me with them."

The two boys were speechless, glancing between each other then back to Gemma. "You think your brother survived escaping The Ark?" Louis whispers quizzically.

"I mean- it's a possibility, they said there were no floating pods."

"Maybe the pod floated too far away?" Niall adds, brows hunched in deep thought. "They couldn't locate it? Where would they even land? Surely not..."

Gemma quickly catches on and lets out a soft grunt. "Earth? Possibly. But we learned about countries in The Ark, remember? Places that were miles and miles away. There's a slim chance we'd be able to find Harry, and I doubt he'd even remember me."

"You can never be too sure." Louis huffs, patting his friends knee in empathy. Gemma simply lays a hand atop his and whispers a thank you.

"Attention everyone, five minutes until we land. Please do not remove yourself from your seats and stay calm. Thank you." The intercom suddenly voices, the people around them starting to murmur amongst themselves. 

Five minutes? Where has the time gone?

"Are you guys ready?" Louis asks, glancing around anxiously.

Niall says no the same time Gemma mumbles a yes. Louis simply giggles as their ride turns bumpy, his arse lifting out of his seat from the movements but is thankfully held down by the tight seat buckles. 

"We've landed," Zayn states, his face giving away no emotions. "Everyone slowly get out of your seat and stand. No one move."

The adolescents do so, Niall having to get his seat-belt unlocked by a guard and muttering profanities under his breath.

Ever-so-slowly, the seats automatically lower into a square before disappearing beneath the pods' floorboards. Now there's around ninety-eight teenagers standing in front of the massive door that, once opens, will either kill them or allow them to live on the planet they once called home.

"Mickey, door please." Zayn instructs gruffly, his feet set into a pigeon-toed stance. Louis may be the only one that can tell the chancellor is extremely nervous.

"You sure, sir?" the jet-black, buff guard mutters hesitantly.

"Well, we're not going to just stand here until they open by themselves, are we?" his voice drips with sarcasm, "Open the door. Don't make me say it again."

The man nods before hesitating. Everyone can relate, this is an extremely scary moment. Without much thought Mickey unlocks the safety case enclosing the lever using a thumb-print code. Sighing, he grabs the handle with both hands and pulls down.

The door slowly elevates, smoke rising to their boots and causing this situation even more dramatic. Louis attempts to peek around Nialls shoulder to take a look at the outside, but is sadly blocked. He hates being short. 

A few minutes pass in absolute silence, and once the door opens fully, everyone around him is screaming in joy and running outside. He's pretty sure he hears someone yell "we're home, bitches!".

No one takes a second glance at Louis, who's pretty sure someone just trampled over his ankle and is breathing heavily in pain on the floor.

What a great way to begin their new life. 

(Not to mention he managed to lose Niall and Gemma along the way.)

"Are you alright, kid?" Mickey asks from Louis' peripherals, standing in a nearby corner before walking closer and dropping to a crouch in front of the boy.

"Do I look alright?" he grumbles, hissing in pain. Louis glances around at everyone outside, and; wow. It looks so beautiful out there; the trees have grown to their full potential, and the grass is as green as any ocean or pair of eyes. The sky is a beautiful shade of blue mixed with flurries of white clouds dotting the horizon, and the wild flowers growing nearby remind him of a rainbow.

He's broken out of his reverie with a sharp sting to his cheek. 

Mickey just slapped him.

"What was that for?!" bellows the teenager, shoving the man away by his chest.

"Don't talk back to your superiors, kid. We're on Earth now, which means I, one of the only men with a weapon, will run things around here. Along with Zayn. Now stop being a child, get up, and  _help people!_ We need to get started on building camp as soon as possible, I thought you knew this." 

With a rough pat to Louis' slowly swelling ankle, Mickey raises from his crouched position and strides outside, ignoring the boys painful cries.

Ten minutes later, Louis still has tears streaming down his face and a pair of boots are stood in front of him. 

"Please don't hit me, I'll get to work now." he mumbles, not making eye contact with the person while struggling to get onto two feet.

"Need help, mate?" Nialls voice stops him. 

"I thought you and Gemma left me." Louis laughs sadly when the blonde successfully helps him stand. "Nah, we were immediately ordered to set up camp, and Zayn went upstairs a few minutes ago to grab the food stock we have. I got bored of helping set up tents and went to find you, but you're here. Are you hurt?"

"Yeah," Louis hesitates, "just. Everthing's overwhelming right now. Where'd Gem go?"

"Left with a girl called Maya to gather water. Accompanied by a guard, of course." Niall rolls his eyes, looking to where Zayn has just exited the space above and is climbing down the ladder. Turning around, the chancellor holds a hand to his chest and stumbles back. "Christ! How long have you two been here? You scared the shit out of me."

Niall cackles, pointing to Louis' plump ankle. "He hurt himself. Do you think you could get him to a medic?"

"I don't think we have any medics..."

Nialls face turns to stone. "You brought weapons, food and tents but no medics?!"

"Listen. If you don't remember clearly:  _you're_ the juveniles. We're the good guys. You guys are nothing but prisoners to us and we will treat you as such." he tries to ignore the way Louis flinches at his voice, but Zayn manages to keep his tough façade.

Niall snorts, what Zayn just mentioned had no correlation to whether there were medics on board the pod. "You're a real arsehole, Zayn."

He almost mentions the way Louis felt when he and Zayn had first met, but decides to leave it. It's not his story to tell.

"C'mon Lou, let's find your sister. I'm sure she's around here somewhere." that instantly makes Louis smile because he hasn't seen her since they were boarding the pod.

As they turn around, Louis misses a tear fall down Zayns' cheek.

Niall hums once they're outside, gazing at the three nearby guards left at the camp who seem pre-occupied. "Your ankle isn't broken, right?"

Louis narrows his eyes suspiciously. "I- uh. I don't know. It hurts to walk on but I guess I'll be okay. Why?"

"Wanna see what's in the forest?" his Irish friend points to where there's a small opening to the right of their camp, a few unknown named flowers surrounding it. "Niall-"

He stops once Zayn re-appears from the pod, striding past them (while bumping Nialls' shoulder roughly, earning a scowl from the blonde that Louis couldn't help but giggle at) and towards the guards huddled in a corner, whispering something inaudible to the two boys' ears. Two of the guards nod, one leaving their small group and following Zayn towards the opening. Louis remembers him vaguely mentioning them planning a hunt as soon as they touched the ground.

"Well, there goes our escape route. Wanna walk around?" his friend mutters, rubbing his shoulder. A few people rush past them with long metal poles in their hands, still setting up tents that two people will have to share. Louis mentally counts this. They'll have to set up fifty tents before dusk, and so far they look like they only have around twenty.

"Nah, let's go set up the tents. Get it over and done with." Louis beams when Niall simply glares, "fine."

They get to work, strolling to the middle of their camp site where there's a pile of tents in various bags, Louis picking up a blue one. Niall shakes his head and takes it from the boys' arms before throwing it back in the pile carelessly. "Let's get black, it's cooler." he answers the brunettes questioning glance, patting him on the bum. "Where do you want to set up? I'm thinking near the-"

"Félicité!" Louis all but yells once he spots his sister setting up a tent neighbouring close by. He sprints/limps as fast as he can when she spots him, her blue eyes getting watery as with her brothers. Meeting him half-way, she sobs into his neck, clinging onto his lower back and lifting him from the floor a little. "Lou! I missed you so much. I'm sorry I didn't come find you, this girl kept annoying me and telling me to set up more tents."

"It's- it's,  _god_ , it's fine, Fiz." he assures, reluctantly pulling from the hug and shedding more tears when his sister attempts to wipe them away. "I noticed you limping a bit, did something happen to your leg?" she frowns, gasping at the now purple bump of an ankle. 

"I'm fine, Fiz. Just tripped, 'is all. How've you been?" he grins, hugging her one more time, just because. 

"Good, good. I made a friend called Maya! She's pretty nice." 

A few seconds later there's a girl at her side with fluffy jet black hair that goes just past her shoulders and a squared facial structure. "Hello," she grins, holding out a hand for the younger boy who takes it easily. "I'm Maya, and you must be Lewis?" he inwardly cringes at the name and watches Niall pull a face from beside him. "It's  _Louis_ , like... yeah." Louis ends lamely, gesturing to Niall. "This is-"

"Niall. Horan. Pleasure to meet you, beautiful." he smoulders, puckering his pink lips. Maya and Félicité collectively roll their eyes.

"That reminds me. Ni, have you seen Gemma yet?"

"Nah, mate. Been with you the whole time." he hums, glancing at Maya softly. That look is familiar to Louis because he remembers Fizzy having a few boyfriends/girlfriends and looking at them like that. 

"Wait- the Styles girl?" Maya suddenly pipes up, eyes wide with realisation. 

"Yeah... why?"

"Dangerous one, that one. I heard she got on the pod for killing a guard."

"What?" Scoffing, Louis folds his arms. "That's not true, she told us-"

"We have to go." Niall mutters quickly, grabbing Louis' arm gently and pulling him away. Eventually the younger male submits and leaves, not before looking behind him and scowling at Maya. She didn't know Gemma like he and Niall did.

"What's wrong, Ni?" Louis whispers wearily, sitting on a nearby small log someone managed to find. He spots Gemma and around five others coming back with a guard- namely Mickey- hauling buckets of hopefully uncontaminated water. "Lou.. we shouldn't go telling people what Gemma told us. She did it out of trust, alright? Just ignore them if they say anything."

"Okay." Louis grins when he sees Gemma approaching, who glares at Niall playfully once she sees Louis' ankle. "What did you do to the poor boy, Ni?!" she laughs, harder when Niall makes an incredulous expression. 

Louis notices Mickey standing a few metres away, a hard stare set on Louis. "I fell."

"Right, and I'm a man with four nipples." Gemma scoffs, seeing right through his lie. Following Louis' line of vision and how tense he seems, she frowns, turning back him. "Louis..."

"I have to go." the boy in question attempts to stand, doing so within a matter of minutes with his friends' stares burning holes in the back of his neck. He makes it a metre before Gemma says: "surely you're not going out in the forest, Louis? It's nearing 1900 hours, I can tell by the shadows angles the sun is casting. It's dangerous out there." Gemma sighs sadly when she notices Louis is wincing while still walking towards the tree-line which is a good thirty metres away, removing herself from the log to guide her friend back. "Listen, maybe tomorrow we can visit the forest, but Mickey told me while we were getting water we had to sleep at 2000 hours. Stay here while Niall and I help set up the rest of the tents." Sitting her friend back down on the log, Niall is about to argue when Gemma sends him a deathly glare, swiftly turning on her heels and motioning for the Irish lad to join. 

"Sorry, mate. Hope you get better soon, yeah? I'll come back to fetch you later." Niall fist-bumps his friend, moving to walk with Gemma. After a few seconds, he eventually turns to walk backwards, blowing Louis a kiss and knocking into someone behind him who grimaces, picking up where their small logs had fallen. Louis can't contain the laugh when he witnesses Gemma smack his blonde friend on the back of the head lightly once he turns around with his back facing Louis.

Louis observes the people milling about, doing their jobs already assigned, when he feels a presence beside him. Turning his head, he immediately sighs in annoyance and scoots pointedly towards the other end of the log (which doesn't end up being that far, a few four centimetres).

"Louis, please talk to me." Zayn pleads, slowly inching his hand towards the boys' and linking them. Louis thinks of pushing him away, but decides against it at the last minute. He's too tired for this.

Zayn squeezes his hand lightly, grinning from ear to ear once Louis squeezes back. It doesn't last long once he notices the seventeen year old is looking anywhere but at him. "I'm sorry for what I said, truly. I didn't mean it, I just- I was stupid and I regretted it immediately. I promise I'll change."

"It's fine, 's just- you didn't even get to see my project." he whispers almost inaudibly, though Zayn hears it. Zayn basically hears anything.

"What do you mean, Lou?"

"I finished my art project on the solar system all those years ago, and you turned me away when I was going to show you."

Realisation dawns on Zayn, his breath hitching. "I wish I could've seen it." he smiles softly, "I bet it was beautiful."

"It's with the cargo on the pod, I think." Louis adds, "it was the only thing they let me take before leaving."

A sudden drop of liquid falls on his face and he scrunches his nose. The two look up and more drops begin falling causing everyone around them to stop. "I haven't seen rain in... ever." Louis whispers, reaching his free hand out and smiling to himself when the fluid roll off his slightly pale skin. "Is it dangerous?" he asks softly, watching everyone do the same; some even opting to peek their tongue out for a taste.

"No, it's safe." Laughs Zayn quietly, closing his eyes and sticking his tongue out like a dog with a tilt of his head, causing Louis to snort at the strange sight. 

"It smells weird now." Louis mutters, realising they were all about to get drenched in water. The chancellor beside him giggles ( _giggles!_ ), humming contently with his hand still clasped in Louis'.

"Sleep with me tonight." 

"Wha-what?" Sputtering, Louis hastily unlinks their hands, "Zayn, I-" his cheeks tint with a deep shade of rose, "I've never..."

Zayn simply frowns before guffawing, smacking his knee. "I didn't mean it like that, Lou. I won't try anything. Promise."

Louis squints, holding his little finger out. "Pinky promise?" 

"Pinky promise." Zayn affirms.

They wait for a while in the rain, unbothered, when Niall, Gemma, Félicité and Maya all come back from setting up tents; Louis' two best friends giving Zayn a judgemental stare. Louis can only guess Niall told Gemma what happened earlier.

(He loves his friends, he really does.)

"The tents are done," Félicité smiles, nodding to Zayn whom smiles solemnly, causing Niall and Gemma to raise their brows in surprise. His blonde friend gives him a look saying  _'we'll talk about this later'_ , whereas Gemma is still holding her suspicions high. 

"That's great!" The raven-haired man finally responds, pulling Louis to his feet a little too fast, causing the smaller teenager to have his mouth collide with Zayns' chest. His cheeks bloom, stepping back before gesturing to Niall.

"Can I talk to you?" he whispers, glancing to Zayn who gives him a knowing smile, the boy following a limping Louis behind the pod.

"What's up?" 

"Zayn asked me to come to his tent tonight," holding a hand up to ignore Nialls' jaw drop open slightly, Louis advances. "We've sorted it out, and he said he didn't mean what he said."

Niall holds no expression. "Um. Alright." he hesitates in saying more, Louis growing curious and a tad scared.

"What? What is it?"

Niall looks at him long and hard, his face turning lax and soft from when it was previously tense. "Just- it's going to be tough surviving out here, mate. And... I just don't want people to take advantage of you because of your innocence."

"I'm not  _that_ innocent." Louis whines, looking like an angry kitten. Niall says as much which earns him the gift of a hit on the arm from the smaller boy.

"Listen," he reasons, cupping both of Louis' hands with his own, "this Earth isn't our home- space was. But we have to adapt to it now because there's no going back. I hate to say it babe, but people will die here. There's sickness on Earth, there's probably mutated animals from the radiation, and there may even be people."

Snatching his hands away, Louis glares with all of his might. "How do  _you_ know all this stuff, then? How come I'm treated as a child and I'm always left in the dark about things?!"

"Louis, I'm trying to tell you-"

"Save it," he gripes, "I'm going back to Zayn." Departing, Louis flicks the middle finger and harrumphs once he finds his target talking to a bald-headed guard. He manages to catch the tail end of: "you can't have seen a horse, they don't reside near forest biomes. Get the food supply from the pod, feed the juves,  _then_ talk to me."

Once the man Zayn was previously talking to nods before being sent on his way, the chancellors dark-complexed face turns to face Louis, eyes widening.

"...How much of that did you hear?"

Louis chortles, "a bit. What the fuck is a juve? Is that like juveniles? Because it's ugly."

"Whatever," Zayn waves off his question, "you need to stop sneaking up on me. What are you doing here, anyway? You should be resting your ankle."

"What's this about a horse?" Louis ignores Zayns inquisition, "are there horses nearby?"

"That's none of your concern, Lou." he remarks, "It's getting late and we need to start a fire. Care to join me?"

"I suppose." his features etch into a playful frown before calmly adding: "only if we can make those thing you called s'mores."

 

* * *

 

"Zayn." Whimpering, Louis is forced to witness the lightning outside cause shadows over the tent. The boy positively  _swears_ he saw someone standing right in front of the zip-up entrance, their silhouette causing him to cower into the corner of the small nylon structure. "Zayn..." he tries again, poking the sleeping man gently. He turns around to glare at Louis with half-open eyes, quickly softening once he notices the boy shaking. Opening the rest of the space he has left, he invites Louis into the confines of his sleeping bag, laughing quietly when the boy doesn't hesitate to shuffle close. "Quickly, because I have to change shifts with Allen in about an hour." he glances at the watch on hiswrist he forgot to remove. "You'll be okay by yourself for a little while, right?"

 _No._ "Yes. I'll be fine."

Louis is thankful his voice doesn't waver or break.

"Good. Sleep now." Zayn smiles dopily, pulling Louis close.

He eventually drifts off to sleep again, leaving Louis staring at his bare chest in thought. He was warm, Louis liked Zayn, but they were nothing more than friends. Louis couldn't explain it, but when he looked into Zayns' amber pigmented eyes, there was something...  _missing_. 

Shaking the thought, Louis struggled to sleep: a lot was going through his mind at the moment. Was Niall right? Were there  _really_ mutated animals? He mentally gasps. There could be wolves in that forest! And bears and... those furry baby things. Moneys? Minks! No...  _ah_ , monkeys. 

Eventually Zayn wakes up, kissing Louis on the forehead before slowly untangling himself from the boys' legs and unzipping a large black case nearby, pulling out an automatic rifle. Louis almost gasps at the sight, opting to stay silent and not blow his cover. Once Zayn leaves, he's going to sneak off to Niall and Gemmas' tent and sleep with them where's he's not alone and feels safe.

The man hauls the weapon over his shoulder, unzipping the tent before stepping out, Louis shutting his eyes as soon as he turns around to zip it back up. He can hear the soft crunch of leaves and the thunder settling down, waiting an agonising ten minutes before slowly crawling out of the warm haven of Zayns sleeping back and unzipping just the top of the tent, peeking his head out and looking around.

Once he deems it safe enough, Louis unfastens the remainder of the zip slowly to make minimal noise. He realises he never really got to touch the soft foliage growing beneath them, so he does just as much. Placing a shaky hand towards the ground, he smiles giddily. It smells damp, fresh and beautiful, and feels as so. While pulling out a few grass blades and rubbing them between his soft fingers, Louis misses the movement to his peripheral vision and snaps out of his trance. He has more time to feel the grass tomorrow.

Mimicking the chancellors actions and fastening the zip up, Louis limps towards where Niall said earlier his tent would be. 

He walks around for a bit, getting a feel of the whole atmosphere. It's different to space (obviously), there's nothing that grew in The Ark except artificial wheat branded by the space packet food they had, which, to be quite honest, was disgusting. Louis is happy to hopefully go hunting some day and eat  _real_ food.

After walking for a while, narrowly avoiding Zayn and another guard on the opposite side of camp, Louis realises just how lost he is when it comes to finding tents. He's near Niall and Gemmas', but there's quite a few black ones, the tents in the area mostly ranging from that charcoal colour to brown and orange. 

After unzipping three different black tents (embarrassingly finding two girls making out in one of them), the boy spots another he didn't see before, the nylon fabric almost invisible where it's adjacent between a high-standing tree and the pod. 

Louis is unaware of Zayn watching his every move nearby.

"Niall?" Louis whispers ever-so-quietly, slowly opening the well-put together structure and witnessing a blonde head of hair stir, yet not awaken.

"Lou?" Gemmas soft curious voice filters through the small space. "What are you doing? I thought you were with Zayn."

He huffs, entering their small bubble and zipping the tent up before turning around. "I was, but I got scared of the lightning and he had to go on night duty. I'm sorry for bothering." Louis mumbles the last part, the brunette girl notes, as if he was afraid of her reaction.

She smiles lightly; unseen through the sombre light of the moon. "Nonsense. Come sleep in the middle, we'll protect you."

Louis beams at her welcoming, slowly crawling to avoid his swollen ankle before flopping on his stomach. 

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For making me feel safe."

Nothing could amount to the absolute joy Gemma felt in that moment, Louis admitting that she (and definitely Niall) make him feel okay. They've both talked about it in hushed murmurs around Louis, how he's so entranced by the Earth and what it holds, she remembers Louis telling her his first thought about the certain planet that week of their bonding time; how he's painted it many a times using alternative colours, orange red and yellow being his favourite. Louis even said that one day he was going to paint the three of them together, so they have something to hold on to when he dies. He admitted knowing he wasn't going to last long on Earth not knowing anything, Gemma and Niall instantly disagreeing.  Louis has a kind heart too big for his little body, and Gemma doesn't want him to lose it along with his innocent mind. She was aware Louis was going to kill something or  _someone_ , eventually, as that's what it was like on this planet now. No more laughs and playing games, no more smiles. This was the real deal.

Turning back to Louis' sleeping figure, Gemma allowed the time to grieve over the pureness he was going to lose.

"It's okay." her whisper drifted off into the air, gone for good and awaiting the next day coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so excited to start this fic because i know people have been wanting a the 100 au for so long, so i took it upon myself to try and attempt writing it... the title of this fic is a lyric from a song called 'earth' by sleeping at last, along with the chapter name(s).
> 
> ps: louis and niall are not related like octavia and bellamy, their characters just suit most with their personalities so that's why i chose them. sorry if anyone got confused!


	2. the sparks send the fire down a wire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i used actual grounder language from the show wikia unless i can't find any words i need. (then i'll make them up myself, so sorry if they suck)
> 
> p.s: zouis zouis zouis

**NOTE: UNFINISHED CHAPTER**

 this chapter is still a wip. read at your own risk.

 

**-**

 

The next day, everyone was up bright and early working to hopefully build a fence around the camp, some guards allowing certain older teenagers to venture by themselves with an axe to cut down small trees for weapons and planks, and scavenge for livestock. Louis' ankle was a little better, still healing, and Zayn was in the pod upstairs gathering as many ideal supplies he could determine that may help with the fence.

For now, Louis was patiently waiting for Zayn to get the fuck out so he could take his newly unfinished project and leave to the forest to sketch and paint various plant life. The forest was mesmerizing from the outside, and he was absolutely itching to explore it.

After waiting on a log for twenty minutes, he finally spots his target leaving the pod with a few large cylinder polls and some rope, dropping it in front of a bald guard standing nearby he has yet to name. This is his chance, he just has to suck up the pain in his lower leg region, walk to the pod twenty metres away, climb up the ladder, grab the supplies, climb back down, exit the pod, then get to the forest unseen.

After going through that plan in his head, Louis realises something.

This was going to be a lot harder than he initially thought. 

"Randy!" the boy passing stops and smiles at Louis, dropping his stack of wood before skipping over. "Hey," he preens, "what do you need?"

"Do me a favour?" Louis continues once he sees a nod of the boys' head, "I need you to go inside the pod and gather all the art supplies. Don't worry, there's not that many. They should be in a small red box and there should be a roll of acrylic paper next to it."

Randy hesitates, "what do I get in return?"

"I'll let you come with me. Now go!" with a roll of his eyes, Louis watches him sprint towards the pod in glee. 

If he knew any better, he'd say Randy may have a tiny crush on him. 

He watches Zayn closely, still talking to the bald guy as Randy comes into his vision five minutes later holding the beautiful red box Louis has come to love and the small rolled up paper wrapped in four rubber bands. "Let's leave before they spot us. Remember to be quiet and watch out for any twigs as we're still in close range." and ever-so-slowly, the two crept away towards the beautiful forest on light feet, avoiding any ditches as the storm from last night had left the ground damp and muddy.

"Louis, will you hold my hand? I'm scared." Randy tries, clasping onto the boys' finger whom quickly draws away. "It's sunny out, Randy. And besides, you're what? Sixteen? You can hold your own hand." Louis scolds, the pair finally entering the forest. The trees cast towering shadows, leaving little room for the sun rays that dared to seep through. He can very faintly see a tiny rainbow created by a small sliver of sunlight.

"We need to go deeper."

Randy holds his arm to protest, "hey! No way am I going further than the tree-line."

"Then don't come." Bites the brunette, scoffing and taking the equipment from Randys' grasp. "Besides, there's other people hunting for food here from camp, so we're safe."

"How long will we be?"

"Depends if there's a mountain around here," Louis points to the sky, "I wanna get a good view of the sunset."

Randy doesn't say anything once they reach their destination, Louis' cobalt pigmented eyes catching the most beautiful sight. "Don't move, I need to get this from a good angle."

He steps to the left a bit. Then a bit more, slightly to the right, diagonally left, and he's finished.

Plopping down on his hind along with his tools, Louis unravels the paper before biting his lip and picking out a 10 millimetre round-bristled paintbrush and an unsharpened pencil. He has a wonderful view: there's a few various coloured wild flowers patterned around a small pond with algae and rocks growing off to the side, another tiny rainbow similar to the one they saw earlier is laid out on the ragged barked surface of the tree in front of him.

Randy sits rather close to him, Louis eyeing him and nodding when he scoots away. He begins to sketch his surroundings precisely, licking the pad of his pinky and wiping away any mistakes along the way. 

It takes half an hour, but once Louis has a reasonably good sketch of the place, his dainty fingers pick up the paintbrush left abandoned in the grass. Rubbing the offending nature off his well-cared for tool, he turns to Randy, who beams at him like he created life.

"Can you pass me the tin that says 'Artichoke Green', please?"

A few minutes later there's a hand placing a well-rusted and stained paint tin in Louis' own, the seventeen year old examining it and nodding in appreciation when he notices Randy got the right colour. "Thank you. So, I'm gonna start off with the grass first then move onto the water because it'll be easier that way."

"It looks good so far."

"I've only painted the stem of a flower. But thank you for appreciating my fine art skills."

The tawny-haired boy accompanying him laughs, resting a hand on Louis' upper thigh. Which: no. He likes Randy, but Louis is saving himself for _the one_ , first kiss and everything. 

"Anytime." he purrs, pushing himself closer so his leg is brushing Louis' own. 

Louis says nothing, muttering under his breath whilst continuing to work on his project. He's almost finished painting the grass in various dark colours he chose himself, turning opposite to where Randy was previously sitting while picking out a beautiful shade of red named 'Cornell'.

Ten minutes later, the differently patterned and shaded flowers are looking beautiful. "Can you pass me a colour called 'Army Red', please?" 

No response.

"Ran-"

Turning, Louis notices his companion has completely vanished.

However, in the corner of his eye, Randy is pressed flush against a masked stranger with a sharpened dagger pushed at the base of his neck. 

Gasping in utter terror, Louis drops his project and briskly removes himself from his comfortable sitting place on the ground, turning to stand parallel to the stranger. There's a brown horse behind him, alongside a pure black one accompanied by another masked rider holding a bow and arrow. The one on the ground is wearing what appears to be wolf fur and bones, the other a long black jaguar fur cape that clasps around their chest.

Randy is struggling weakly against the strangers iron grip, before finally going lax and giving up once he realises the dagger will just slice harder into his throat if he resists.

"Ai laik Anne kom Trikru."  _(I am Anne of the Tree Crew.)_  the woman on the horse speaks before gesturing to the other on the terrain. "Disha won aik Harry."  _(This one is Harry)_

When they receive no reply, the threat situated on the forest floor speaks up.

"Dison aik ain." _(_ _This one is mine.)_ the stranger wielding the dagger gestures to  a trembling and sobbing Randy, turning to the assumed one in charge on the charcoal-coated horse. Whereas she simply scoffs, pointing to Louis. "Daun laik yun."  _(That one is yours.)_

Blinking, Louis stands wide-eyed when the stranger with the dagger shoves Randy at his superior, whom keeps a firm grip on the boys' hair from his high post, before advancing towards Louis quickly. He gives the boy no time to take his project when he's pushed against the mans chest as Randy was earlier. 

"Daunde ste kwelen!"  _(That one over there is weak.)_  the masked threat holding Louis speaks, pointing to Randy. Louis is completely lost, having no clue what these strangers are initiating. Louis is well aware he's too calm while this event takes place, but. Well. Gemma _did_ warn him. 

"Chilla."  _(Stay calm.)_ The one seemingly in charge scolds, dismounts their horse swiftly before removing their mask. The now exposed figure reveals a woman with dirty locks of brown hair and similar coloured eyes, black liquid smeared around her face and giving the effect of dripping mascara. Continuing to handle Randy roughly, she begins to pull the sixteen year old along until they're face-to-face with Louis.

"Yu beda fis em op."  _(You ought to heal him.)_  the commander speaks, glancing pointedly at Louis' ankle. The threat behind him pulls back, staring at the bruised excuse of a bone as well. Frowning, he points to the opening of the forest, the commander following his vision. "Em slip daun kom skai."  _(He fell from the sky.)_

"Em pleni. Osir na bants."  _(Enough. We will leave.)_

"Mama!-" Louis' holder begins to protest, his grip tightening.

"Yu na fis em op."  _(You will heal him.)_

Harry knew better than to disobey his mother, not at all wishing to anger the beast inside. She was chosen as commander for a reason. "Ai na fis em op."  _(I will heal him.)_ the foreigner sighs, avoiding eye contact. "At camp." 

At camp? They can speak English?

"You can speak English." Louis deadpans with a seemingly unamused face. Louis knows deep down inside they're going to harm him and Randy in one way or another.

"Sha."  _(Yes.)_ the commander smirks, though it doesn't last long. One last look to Randy and she's pulling out a curved blade from an invisible fur pouch on her back, holding it up to the boys' tightening throat. Louis watches anxiously as Randys' bottom lip trembles with fear.

Getting a little too close for comfort, the superior whispers: "Yu ste kwelen. Nau yu na wan op." _(You are weak. Now you will die.)_ before mercilessly slicing his jugular open, Louis has no time to react before his friends' lifeless body drops to the moss-coloured grassblades.

"No!" he screams, ignoring the splatters of warm blood on his face and chest, "why did you do that?!"

Growling, he moves to attack the murderer before being quickly held back by the body behind him. "Let me go, you biggot! You killed my friend!" his fight is slowly wearing him down with the constriction of his chest, strong hands encasing his own. He can feel the energy leaving his body the tighter his captor holds him.

The commander simply rolls her eyes, reminding him of Gemma and Niall. 

He never got to paint the three of them together.

"Ai don sen in chit bilaik ai gaf sen in. Sis em au, we're going to camp." _(I've heard what I needed to hear. Help him out.)_

Harry nods, scooping the light-weighted boy (whom attempts to resists and escape, whimpering a small peep when the mans arms tighten) into his arms and carrying Louis to his horse before strapping him on the ridge of the animals back with tight rope.

Together, the two leave the forest, the only sound of familiarity left to Louis' ears is Nialls' scream once he witnesses them find the body, Gemmas' eyes locking with his own before they disappear, rounding a corner. 

Then, he blacks out.

 

* * *

 

"What the fuck?! What the fuck, what the fu-"

"Niall!"

"Oh god. They took Louis. There's people here- other people, Randy's dead- oh man, oh man." the blonde begins hyperventilating, placing a hand to his chest. "He's gonna die!"

"He's not going to die," Gemma says calmly, "...yet."

"What do you mean  _yet?!_ "

" _I mean_ they would've killed him already and ended up like Randy. They obviously want him for something."

"How are you so calm?" Niall bellows, ignoring Gemmas' statement.

"Would you stop yelling?" Smacking her friends trembling arm, she huffs. "I'm anxious on the inside, but I'm not surprised there's others here. I'm just scared of what they're going to do to little Louis."

"We should tell Zayn."

"No, Niall." Gemma snaps, "you _know_   why that's a bad idea. Zayn could do something stupid."

"He loves him, he deserves to know."

"Not in the way you think." Glancing around, her chocolate-brown eyes scan past Louis' toolbox before locating a large sheet of paper. "He was drawing the forest."

Niall follows her eyesight, moving to shakily pick up the paper with small blood splotches in the corner. 

"D-do you think this is his?"

"He was the only painter on the drop-ship as far as I'm aware."

"No, Gemma." her blonde friend sighs, "I meant the blood."

And, well. She's stumped there.

 

* * *

 

"Where did they even come from?" sighing, Liam cleans Harrys' blade roughly with a damp towel.

"No idea." Harry lies easily. He has  _some_ idea, but- it can't be. He barely remembers leaving that place when he was young, his mother promising him a good life.

She's the commander now, Liam being her second hand alongside Harrys' superviser. Their previous commander died when Harry was twelve, and being accepted from the escaped pod into Trikru at that time, the villagers and warriors that have been living there for generations were weary about them. 

Eventually, Anne gained all of their trust somehow. Harry doesn't like to question it, but it could've been that she used to work as a medic where they once lived and that she had saved many of their people prior.

As the two walk towards where their horses are located hitched to a post, Harry unties his own and allows his friend to speak up.

(Liams' horse is a freckled grey one named Sonraun after the word 'life', Harrys' a chestnut brown named Gona after 'warrior'. They had decided to name them once they had received them as a gift from a farmer at that time. He's long passed now, but it reminds them of simpler times.)

"What are we going to do with the blue-eyed one? Lewis, I think the boy called him."

"Louis," Harry corrects, "and I'm unsure. So far only you, mother and I know. We can't let it spread around the village or they'll kill him and it'll raise suspicions. I'll take him to the caves before he wakes up."

He can feel Liams gaze on him when he readies Gona with a leather blanket, Louis just around the corner where Harry had managed to leave him. They'd been trained since as long as they can remember to ride without saddles, as there's less of a strain on the animals' backs.

Passing his now clean blade back, Harry thanks Liam with a nod.

"Alright," he replies easily. "I'll tell  _heda." (Commander)_

 _"Em yuji. (He's strong)_  Maybe he'll survive out here, unlike the others." 

"Perhaps." agrees Liam, turning to leave but not before kissing Harry softly on the forehead. 

"Don't let him escape,  _trikova_.  _(shadow)_ He's a feisty one. Make him tell you about the falling sky."

"I will."

And with that, Liam leaves him to his duties.

Harry's almost finished gearing up his horse when he hears the familiar sound of rope snapping, whipping his head to the direction of the sound.

What his eyes focus on, makes him want to laugh and scream.

Louis' managed to untie the ropes using a sharpened stick that's usually recycled for bonfires, and is now sprinting/limping towards a hill.

Scoping his territory, Harry makes sure there's no prying eyes before going after Louis' retreating figure, causing the smaller boy to only run faster.

He's agile, Harry'll give him that. He has a small, curvy physique that gives him the advantage of running and jumping. 

Himself, however...

Let's just say Louis was no match for Harry.

The grounder's a metre away from Louis when he bursts forward and tackles him, his arms closing around the adolescents middle before the two begin rolling down the hill they managed to get half way up.

Their vision is dizzy once they reach the bottom, Harry ending up with Louis' face in his chest.

"Branwada!"  _(Fool!)_ Harry admonishes, shoving the boy off him.

"W-whatever that means, shut up." hiccuping, Louis rubs gently at his ankle. "Let me go! I want to go home!"

"Skaikru yu stegeda."  _(Sky Crew is your home.)_ he doesn't give Louis a chance to speak, picking up the flailing prisoner and shoving him face-down over Gona, tying the ropes extra tight. "Yumi souda gyon au gon sobwe."  _(You and I must go to the tunnels.)_

Louis glares, the sight of a horses hooves was not pleasant, the knobs of the animals spine digging into his chest from his laid out position. Harry laughs, mounting his horse and kicking the side of Gonas flank gently as they gallop away from the village.

"You could at least tell me your name before I die." the brunette mutters after an hour of riding.

Harry doesn't reply, seeing the opening to the small caves only himself and Liam can locate.

"Fine-"

"Ai laik Harry com Trikru."  _(I am Harry of the Tree Crew.)_ he recites. There, that should shut him up.

"So... your name is Laik? Or ...tree- crew?"

Choking, Harry attempts to contain his laughter. 

"You're confusing." Louis sighs when Harry begins slowing the horse to a trot before stopping, untying the ropes and hitching Gona to a sturdy low-hanging tree branch and dropping Louis hastily to the floor.

"Follow." is the one English word he dares to speak, once more looping the rope around Louis' wrists and dragging him to a hidden passage. 

"Why do you never speak English? I know you just did, like one word, but- why?"

Once again ignoring the boys pestering questions and opening the steel door covered by leaves, Harry allows Louis to go first before himself before shutting it closed once they get inside.

They turn many different corners, Harry taking extra long and going in circles because if Louis were to ever individually find his hide-out, he'd become confused due to the excess amount of pathways.

It takes a while to reach the heart of the tunnel (Harry not wishing to admit he legitimately got lost a couple of times), the grounder internally beaming when he sees the familiar tunnel larger than the others.

Shoving Louis towards a rusty pole situated in the middle of the room once they enter the main cave, Harry begins looking for some old handcuffs he found many years after finding the complex abode itself.

Smiling to himself once he spots them on a shelf in the corner, he swiftly unties the twine laced around Louis' wrists and replaces it within a minute, attempting not to laugh when his prisoner glares once more, looking like an angry puppy.

Harry almost forgets about his ankle when he winces, making a face.

"Yu kleta, ai vera sujot veida daun."  _(Your ankle, I have just the thing.)_ Moving to a smaller tunnel adjacent to the right, Harry quickly starts rummaging around the small glass bottles looking for the correct herb. Once he finds one for bone healing, he rushes back to Louis' side. 

Harry doesn't bother informing the male of what's about to come, rubbing the watery yellow herb around his foot with a death-lock on his prisoners ankle. 

"Stop, stop! O-oh god, make it stop! Please!" Louis kicks, knocking Harrys rubbing hand away with a plea. He screams and whines for forty more minutes when the grounder notices something.

"Yu ge fis raun." _(You are healed.)_

Slowly, ever so slowly, Louis calms, beads of sweat rolling from his forehead. With a dazed and confused expression, he looks down to where his ankle is no longer swollen, but now stained yellow from the unknown additive. "How did you do that?"

"Pro."  _(You're welcome.)_

"Um, okay. Well- thank you I guess?" 

Harry simply nods, shaking his head with a mirth expression. Slowly taking off his mask, he places it to the side and notices Louis staring at him with awe. The male in front of Louis was- breathtakingly beautiful. Chocolate curls cascading just past his shoulders, elegant and precise swirl patterns tattooed around his eye and just above his eyebrows. Speaking of which; the mans eyes were a stunning shade of freshly cut grass and the purest emeralds, tiny freckles of brown almost naked to the human eye.

"You have tattoos. On your face." Louis spurts dumbly, seemingly still entranced by his captors beauty.

"Sha, honon."  _(Yes, prisoner.)_

Only now does Harry  _also_  note how truly beautiful Louis is: blue blue eyes with green speckles and soft feathery hair that always effortlessly slept to the side, light sun-kissed tan skin with thin dainty wrists. His arms are practically hairless. The grounder unashamedly checks him out, stopping at his right wrist when-

"Branwada!" Shrilling, Harry points frantically to the black bracelet situated on the boys' wrist before seeing a sliver of black on the back of Louis' neck. Turning it swiftly to see a lined code, he rushes to grab a special rare home-made oil his people use for removing tattoos and other ink before returning and shakily pouring a drop in his palm. Grabbing the side of Louis' prominent jawline and ignoring the softness of his skin, Harry rubs the pad of his finger in the liquid and dabs two long, slim fingers against the lined patch. 

The code goes away easily, his fingers becoming soon stained with black. 

_Why did he do that?_

"Why did you do that?!" Louis gasps, rubbing the nape of his neck and grumbling when he gets excess ink on his hands. "You removed my ID code!"

Harry doesn't say anything (he has no clue of what an 'ID code' is), glaring pointedly at the bracelet as if it were about to reach out and attack him. Also- shit. Louis' already seen a sliver of where the grounder lives, along with his secret caves... Harry can't begin to think of letting him free because he knows Louis will tell the others, and he certainly can't allow him to stay because Skaikru could hunt him down, putting his family and friends in danger.

"The bracelet?"

Harry nods.

"What about it? What  _is it_ _?_ " Louis questions. When will he abandon the attempt of Harry ever answering in English with more than two words? 

Rolling his eyes, Harry hums.

"I-it's like the ID code, but it just showcases the type of blood I have. AB. I don't know why they put it on there."

Slowly, ever-so-slowly, Harry moves his hand to feel around Louis' soft, dainty wrists, the rugged pad of his thumb halting once he touches a small cylinder bump just beneath the surface. Rubbing over it once more, he frowns.

"It's a tracker."

Harry nods, unfazed, before raising from his lowered position to gather the required tools to remove this 'tracker'. He's a professional medic amongst the village, always stitching up the small children and warriors of Trikru. However; he's never cut whatever Louis has out of someones' wrist. This may be tricky.

Returning to his post, he gives Louis a pointed look (whom just stares back cautiously), moving his hands swiftly to untie the braiding of the harsh rope from around his prisoners' dainty wrists and pulling him up by the waist.

(Harry tries to ignore the uncomfortable fuzzy feeling in his stomach when he gets a whiff of the boys' scent: honeydew and fresh rain, thankful that underneath the few tattoos scattering his face and mud blotches; the smaller boy doesn't catch him blush.) 

Leading him into another smaller tunnel, the pair enter a room full of weapons ranging between bows, precisely curved swords (arakh), and small knives. Louis also notices a small poorly-built wooden table situated in the middle occupied with old rags and- is that dried blood?

Harry shoves the younger boy on the table, tying a squirming Louis to the table leg before manoeuvring around it and throwing the rags elsewhere, his legs carrying him to different parts of the room where Louis surveys the curly-haired man. "What are you doing? Why'd you tie me up again?"

Harry ignores him, and after asking Louis where exactly the device is, nodding while drawing a vertical line across his wrist with chalk, he remembers something.

"Skaikru." his smooth, stony voice echoes gently throughout the lonely cave as he organises the tools in chronological order: biggest to smallest.

"What's sk-sky crew?"

"Home."

He can see the gears turning in Louis' head, before the boy frowns. "No. I won't let you hurt my friends."

Mentally groaning, Harry doesn't question any further, getting to work with pulling the god-damned tracker out of the captives arm.

 

* * *

 

After stitching up the rest of Louis' arm, Harry is now unsure what he should do. It's still relatively daytime; almost dusk, if the tiny circular holes above the cave casting soft fragments of orange light is anything to go by.

Small dust particles float about the dimly-lit rays, giving Harry a joyous sight once his prisoner finally rises from his previously sleeping place on the uncomfortable table. 

Louis mutters something unintelligent, pushing the upper half of his body up before screaming and flopping back down, hitting his head on the rickety table in the process. Ah, right. He used weight on his newly-stitched wrist. Not a good idea.

Harry snorts. "Sis yu au?" _(Do you need help?)_

Groaning, he sighs and slowly raises himself on his good arm, gazing at Harry. "Eh?"

"Help?"

"No, I'm fine." Louis rubs his head with a wince, "when can I go home?"

The grounder contemplates this before ignoring him, turning on his heels and entering the main tunnel where a bed is now set up. 

"Hey!" the smaller boy calls, dropping himself hurriedly from the table and jogging to catch up, "please let me go home."

Swiftly turning around, causing Louis to bump into his chest, Harry shakes his head.

"Wha- why?!"

"Skaikru."

"I will tell you if you release me after."

Giving him a pointed look, the grounder leads Louis into another big cave. He searches for the coil of rope and ties it to his prisoners wrist carefully, before leading him to the pole and confining him with another complex triple knot. "Rest."

And when Louis' fast asleep twenty minutes later shivering, Harry may or may not have carefully placed a wolf-pelt blanket over his tiny figure, lighting a few candles on the shelves to preserve the warmth swirling around the large cavern while watching the vulnerable, innocent being sleep peacefully.

But nobody had to know that.

Nobody.

 

* * *

 

"He's what?!" Zayn shrills, throwing an empty cup against the wall. It's only plastic, and lamely bounces off before rolling to the floor, but the chancellor was absolutely furious with the news.

"Tomlinson is missing, sir." Mickey confirms, standing tall as Zayn throws another cup at his head. "We patrolled the area; three deaths yesterday. Randy Hult with a knife wound to his neck, Madison Jenson, whom seemingly broke her back climbing a tree for bananas, later dying from hypothermia, and lastly: Hoon Gim, an arrow to the head."

"Knife to the wound and arrow to the head..." Zayn notes, he honestly can't think of any prisoners skilled enough to perform such gruesome and precise tasks, "do you know who's doing these killings?"

"I'm unsure. We have limited weapon supply and these children are defenceless if we don't train them to kill or fight individually."

"I want Louis." Mumbling, Zayn slouches in his chair with defeat. "That'll be all for now, Mickey. We'll get to training the remaining soon."

His peer simply nods, opening the hatch of the trapdoor and climbing down the long steel ladder while Zayn envisions a plan to find his close friend.

After an hour of silence he's on the move. Snatching a small glock, electric baton and a precisely sharpened blade, the chancellor sets out on foot downstairs, past the pod (not before ordering a guard to watch over everyone while he's away), and into the forest.

He walks for a while amongst the slowly darkening sky, tripping over the few invisible roots growing from the forest floor. A steel blade is stuffed tightly into his belt, a reminder of who- or  _what_ -is to come.

The sun is long gone once fifteen minutes pass, only leaving a blanket of glistening stars trapped in an obsidian lid, the occasional rustling of overgrown leaves and owl hoots being the only thing to accompany the lone walker. 

It all happens so quick; Zayn suddenly feeling a jolt of pain spread throughout his left leg before being shoved face first to the ground with a heavy boot being pressed down behind his neck. He attempts to squirm and crawl free, but alas, the offender only embeds  _more_ weight on the vulnerable spot. He gags from the loss of air before the weight is just  _slightly_  lifted- hot breath running down his neck and into his ear uncomfortably.  _"Yu daun Skaikru?"_ **(You from Sky Crew?)**

"Wh-what?" Sputtering, Zayn turns his head to see a terrifying sight: a buzzcut, doe-eyed man with raccoon-like markings and tattoos littering his face. He also notices two other bodies standing just out of his peripherals.

The man sneers, removing his weight and forcing Zayn up by the back of his throat before pushing him against a nearby tree. "Ai laik Liam kom Trikru. Chon yu bilaik?"  _(I am Liam of the Tree Crew. Who are you?)_

"Huh?"

Liam stares him down with a singular brow raised.

"Oh," a look of realisation dawns across Zayns features, the rugged bark of the tree creating temporary indents into the mans cheek. "I'm Zayn Malik, chancellor of The Ark. I mean you no harm."

The stranger scoffs, calling over the two accompanying him."Osir na em op kamp." _(We will take him to camp.)_

"Em ste nou klir!" _(It is not safe!)_ one of them states, and Zayn can hear the faint lilt in their voice. It's a woman.

"Osir go no neya strat." _(We have no other plan.)_ the man replies, gesturing towards the other, whose stayed quiet. "Jade?"

The woman in question is quiet for a few moments, seemingly thinking this whole plan through.

"I say we send him a message." 

Liam simply nods, making a mental note to scold Jade later for using English in front of their enemy, nonetheless loosening his grip on Zayn before throwing a bit of rope towards the blonde one. "Tie him up."

The chancellor is about to protest before a twine of rope is tightly being tied around his wrists. Wincing, he reaches for his baton.

Liam scowls and searches him, throwing the foreign object, along with a dagger, onto the forest floor. 

"Kodon em fingernails."  _(Cut his fingernails.)_

"Fingernails?" before Zayn has a chance to question their motives, the blonde of the duo swiftly reaches for a slim dagger from her waist, gesturing for the brunette to accompany her while Liam stays back and watches the scene unfold. "Taik em. Nou teik go taim ai say." _(Hold him. Do not let go until I say.)_

Shakily taking the dagger from her friends grasp, she nods. Zayn notes how her once olive skin is looking more on the pale side.  

"Jay." the taller woman sighs, as if this is a reoccurring incident, _"t_ _aik em._ We've done this before." 

Jade narrows her eyes at the nickname before sighing dejectedly and glaring at Zayn, grasping the dagger tightly. "I'll make it quick." 

 

* * *

 

"Chancellor!" Mickey gasps at the sight before him. Zayn is lying bloodied and tied up just clear of the camp grounds. In the two days Louis' been missing, they searched everywhere; and the atmosphere was tense and  _off_. Not one soul knew what happened to him.

Rushing over, the guard hears the tail-end of his pleas.

"Mph." Zayn mumbles, gesturing his head towards the cloth shoved in his mouth. Quickly taking it out, Mickey calls for another guard within the proximity to assist. "What happened out there, Malik?"

Wheezing, the man in question coughs out a clot of blood before haughtily replying. "There's o-others. Out there." Zayn coughs again, wincing, "not j-ust us."

"Others?" Allen's deep voice murmurs while gently untying the rope, noticing the superiors fingernails have been cut clean off. He grimaces at the sight.

Mickey helps Zayn stand up once Allen's done untying the complex braiding and frowns in confusion. "From the forest?"

Both of their faces pale when Zayn nods.

"So... you're telling us there's people  _not_ from The Ark?"

He nods again.

"Surrounding us?"

Zayn retracts his head at the question and thinks this through. "So far I'm u-unsure. But, there are in-ndeed others."

Allen huffs anxiously, glancing towards the half-finished fence. "We've almost finished with the border, and are currently looking to possibly make it higher, but for now we'll bring you back to camp.

Slowly, the two carry Zayn back towards the camp, a frantic Félicité locking eyes with him before mimicking the act with the other two guards. "Where is he?! Where is my brother!"

"We don't kn-" before Mickey can finish his sentence, she raises a hand and brings it down to slap him. 

"I don't ever want to her those words again." by now the young girl has attracted the attention of over half the camp. If you were to raise your hand or threaten a guard in  _any_ way, you're sure to be floated.

Zayn is far too weak to stop Mickey when he shoves Louis' sister back, her hind hitting the drying ground with an ' _oomph_ '. 

"Ian," he nods for a red-haired guard to accompany him, "take her to the pod. There's handcuffs in a cabinet in the left corner; bottom drawer."

"You can't be serious." Félicité deadpans, her gaze wavering towards Zayn. "Is he serious?"

"I'm pretty serious." Mickey cuts in, a stone cold glare set on the younger girl. Ian takes Félicité's wrist once he returns a few minutes later with the handcuffs, manoeuvring her towards the large structure of the pod before locking it tight to an air vent.

"Don't move."

"Not like I can if I tried." Félicité contradicts, raising a brow at Ian's glare. 

"You wanna test me?"

"What exactly am I testing? All I see is a scared man. You won't last out there in the forest, that I can promise you." Smirking, Félicité quite literally spits in his face, earning a smack across the cheek from the older male.

"Talk back and I'll-"

"That's enough." Zayn chokes from behind the duo, still being held up by Ian and Allen. "You've tortured the poor girl enough, Mick. Out." he gestures towards the entrance of the pod, arching a brow in a challenging manner. 

The jet-black haired male says nothing, rising from where he was about to kick the youngers' side and storms out, not before shooting invisible daggers at a scoffing Félicité. "Leave us be." Zayn orders, Ian and Allen giving wary glances before gently setting him down across from Félicité and leaving.

"Louis will never forgive you, you know." she states, rubbing her cheek.

Zayn sighs dejectedly, "I know. I love him, though."

"So do I, but what's that got to do with anything?"

"I don't... love him like you do."

Realisation flits across her features before it settles into a defensive frown. "Zayn..."

"I know what you're gonna say, Félicité, but I really can't help my feelings."

"This is dangerous. Love can get you killed," she rubs the bridge of her nose with her only free hand, "promise me you won't toy with his emotions?" 

"I promise."

"Zayn." he receives a pointed look, "Louis' never been in a relationship and hasn't known many people aside from me to properly form a bond. I have no idea where you two stand, but please don't hurt him. I want him to be with someone who will make him happy."

"You think I won't make him happy?"

Félicité rolls her eyes, "you let a guard almost beat me to a pulp."

"True," Zayn admits, "and I apologise for that. But-"

A blood-curdling scream instantly cuts their conversation short as the juveniles begin scrambling for cover and safety. Félicité winces when she tries to stand as they witness what can only be called a bloodbath. Many lay on the ground with multiple arrow wounds in their bodies, Mickey lifeless with a shot to the head. 

Arrows whirl past Félicité's head, earning a yelp. "What's going on?!"

"An ambush. We're under attack." Zayn notes, rushing towards the ladder before grabbing a rifle from upstairs soon to come down ten minutes later.

"I have to get the handcuff keys from Mickey." they both stare towards where his body was situated in the middle of camp.

"You'll die."

"I know." he begins to walk before Félicité reaches out and pulls on his ankle, "please try not to die. I've already lost my brother. We won't make it without a leader."

"I'll try not to. For Louis."

"For Louis." she nods, letting him go.

 

 

* * *

 

 

" _Heda_." Harry irked, gritting his teeth. Although it wasn't customary for the prince of Trikru to call his own mother  _Heda_ , he still did so, as he felt it added genuine respect for the queen of their people. Anne was currently sitting atop her throne, Indra bowing to Harry once he'd yanked the door of their home open with a glare. 

"Sha?"

"You sent an ambush."

"Indeed."

"On Skaikru."

She flicks her hand, gesturing for her second and guards to leave them. Once they all nod and bow, fleeing the room from the intense stare-down the mother and son were having, Anne speaks once more.

"I don't see the problem here, _trikova_. If anything, I thought you'd be out there battling with us. With our people."

"Yu kru, nomon."  _(Your people, mother.)_ he reprimands, frowning.

Scoffing in reply, Anne questions: "en chit ste em gon yu wor?"  _(What is it of your concern?)_  

"It's not my concern," Harry hesitates, "I just ought to think why you wouldn't tell me."

His mother raises from her throne with a stern glare. This can't be good.

"Don yu nou respect, trikova?"  _(Have you no respect, shadow?)_ her heavily clad boots slowly make their way down the stairs with pure dominance, stopping at the final step. "Do you need a reminder?"

"No,  _Heda_." Harry cowers where he stands, the two merely inches apart. Laughing bitterly, Anne reaches a hand to tug on her sons curly hair, giving her son a fake-sweet smile before pushing him to the ground. 

Harry winces at the rough impact, his knees giving out as she crouches so they're face to face once more. "Remember where you stand,  _trikova_. Until the day my soul passes and chooses a new commander, you are nothing but a stubborn prince. You should be out fighting for our people, yet here you are; wasting your time confronting me about an action I had already planned two days prior." Anne spits, her traditional eye makeup adding all the more effect to how powerful she had become, "I will not allow Skaikru to reign over my people, they've already killed two medics; and to think you'd let me ignore that is beyond me. Osir laik in disha teina."  _(We are in this together.)_

Without waiting for a reply, Anne releases her firm hold on Harry's wispy locks, carding them through his hair gently before bringing his face into her shoulder and murmuring: "osir souda elim hogeda Skaikru." _(We must kill all sky people.)_

Harry grunts in reply, moving to wipe his own tears.

"Say it with me,  _trikova_." the origin of Harry's nickname is a story for another time. "We must rid of all sky people."

He thinks of Louis. Tiny, innocent Louis that has done no wrong, bright blue eyes and soft chestnut hair. Louis was innocent. He knew nothing of the real world.

But Harry knew Louis would be corrupted by Skaikrus' ways eventually.

"We must rid of all sky people." he repeats firmly, earning a soft kiss on the crown of his head.

Hastily pulling them both up, Anne claps a hand on his shoulder. "Good. Go now," she glances pointedly towards the curved arakh sword located in a pouch on his chest, "most of Skaikru are either weakly fighting back or have already fled to the woods. I want you to kill anyone who flees. Elim raunon bilaik fle."  _(Kill anyone that runs.)_

"Sha, Heda."  _(Yes, commander.)_


End file.
